THE MANAWATU COUNTY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5083, 9 July 1877, Page 2

THE MANAWATU COUNTY.

‘ TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir, —In your issue of the 2nd instant your Foxton correspondent devotes a long letter to the movement for the separation of the Manchester and Kiwitea Ridings from the M anawatu County, endeavoring by a series of very disingenuous statements to impugn the accuracy of your Feilding correspondent’s version of the reasons which justify the separatiouists in their action.

The movement is one on which the residents in the separation districts are agreed to a man. They feel that their future progress is deeply involved in the issue ; and as the ultimate decision whether or no their prayer for separationis granted rests with the General Assembly, it is of importance to them not to allow misstatements to be placed before the public without contradiction. I therefore trust you will allow me, as the elected chairman of the separation committee, space for a few remarks upon the subject. The Manawatu County, as at present constituted, occupies an area of 100 miles by an average of 20 miles, which is cut into two almost equal subdivisions by the main railway line from the Rangitikei River to the Manawatu Gorge. The Manchester and Kiwitea Ridings, which are seeking separation, comprise the whole of the land north of the railway line and a few thousand acres on the southern side. The settlers on this subdivision have only come into occupation daring the last three years. With the exception of about six miles of road formed by the General Government, and some three quarters of a mile by the B. and C. Aid Corporation, their main roads taken over by the county are entirely unformed. To the whole of this block the several railway stations in the main are practically its posts on which the whole of its traffic whether incoming or outgoing must converge, and it is therefore of the utmost importance to the progress of the settlers that all their available resources should be expended in opening the country to these railway stations. The subdivision on the southern side of the railway line includes all the older settlements of the Manawatu, with some forty miles of roads, a large part of which have been formed and metalled by the Provincial or General Governments, and which have been taken over as county roads by the Council. Now, what the residents in the Kiwitea and Manchester Ridings assert is, that the monies which they, a young and roadless settlement, contribute to the county revenue, are being ve' y largely taken to keep in repair the roads which an older and more fortunate commnnity has enjoyed for some years past, and which roads the separationists will never seek to use, either to import their supplies or to export their produce. To prove that this assertion is correct I propose to put the Chairman of the County Council, Mr. Thynne, into the witness-box on behalf of the separationists, and by doing so to offer the best possible contradiction to your Foxton correspondent’s argument. In a statement, ex cathedra, to the Council, attempting to prove that our separation movement was not justifiable, Mr. Thynne admits that our contribution to the revenue of the county is £1655 13s. 9d., out of a total of £4353 19s. 7d., or more than one-third of the whole. His own estimate of the expenditure chargeable to our ridings only amounts to £llO4 os. 4d., leaving a balance to our credit of £551 13s, 5d., whip-h he makes no attempt to show as expendeu'ior our benefit, and of the sums charjged to u£ iu his estimate, £243 16s. is for maintenance, of roads altogether outside our ridings, and a sura of £SO is inserted which never appeared at all in the estimates under consideration, so that even allowing as correct some other items which are open to dispute, the balance which should be to our credit, but ■ which jJJiverted

elsewhere, is £BBS Os. 5d., being more llr.ui one-half of our contribution. The '(UC'tiou will naturally arise, 'Where does vorir money go I This is easily answered by reference to two items only in the Council estimates. Out of a sum of £I4OO voted for road formation, our ridings receive only £3OO ; and out of £IOO2 2s. voted for maintenance, our ridings receive the large sum of £9O. ’ , Our position may be briefly summed up. The ridings seeking separation contain an area equal to the whole of the rest of the county ; they contain nearly or quite a tmu o population ; they contribute move than a thud of the revenue ; their representation m the Council is, however, only two out of miw,, i , takin" the chairman's casting vote into consideration, two out Of ten and m confluence we have to take what w gwea us and bo thankful, or be subjected to censure from ho chairman, in hi* place, for presuming W flunk that £390 out of an expenduure of “-oOtH '- not as much as we are fairly entitled to expect. I am,, {j ALC ombi;, Chairman Separation Committee. Feilding, July 5. ______